For the past fifteen years or so, Dutch theatre company Bambie has been creating physical theatre that moves and amazes. Theatre in which the actors work up a sweat while letting their imaginations run riot. With Bambie, slapstick can go hand-in-hand with poetic choreography. This is theatre created 'on the floor', and forged by the bodies of the actors. What starts out with big themes and big emotions ends up as pursuits, death-defying leaps, mock battles and soothing rituals. The starting point is the body as reflector of the human soul. Impulses and urges, dreams and frustration are exaggerated until the characters on the stage are almost crushed beneath their weight. The group keeps the shows, which frequently tour both in the Netherlands and abroad and have received many awards, in its repertoire. The founders of Bambie, Paul van der Laan and Jochem Stavenuiter, started out numbering their shows when they were still at the Amsterdam Theatre School, and continue to do so to this day. During the group’s own festival (‘Bambierambam’), as many different shows as possible are performed, one after another.
Bambie 7 a physical theatre show with non explosive tendencies
Bambie 7 (2001) shows a struggle against apathy by three restless strangers in search of a moment of domestic bliss. No holds are barred, from storm force 10 to a deafening Schubert string quartet.Created and performed by Paul van der Laan, Irene Schaltegger en Jochem StavenuiterDirected by Lis van der Kleij
Bambie 8 a physical theatre show with 158 escape routes
Bambie 8 (2003) is a bizarre odyssey by three men through the landscape of their kitchen, whereby delusions and reality almost collide. In an incredible journey they gradually turn out to be the big heroes they always felt they were. Inspired by the explosive cooperation between filmmaker Werner Herzog and his favourite lead actor, Klaus Kinski. Winner of the VSCD Mime Prize 2003.Created and performed by Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata, Paul van der Laan en Jochem Stavenuiter. Directed by Lis van der Kleij.
Bambie 10 a hopeful show about cynicism
Cynicism is unfamiliar to Bambie. The characters that populate Bambie’s productions can be rigid or explosive, confused or naive, but never cynical. Nevertheless – or perhaps precisely therefore – cynicism is the subject of Bambie 10 (2005). What motivates the cynic? How does he move? Is cynicism a shield, or a weapon? Four absurd characters barricade themselves in with their own convictions. Breaking down the barricades proves to be no easy matter.Created and performed by Marien Jongewaard, Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata, Paul van der Laan en Jochem Stavenuiter. Directed by Jetse Batelaan
Bambie Treize in French for beginners
Films from the sixties by French directors Truffaut and Godard are an important point of departure for Bambie Treize (2008). In broken French the audience is led to a time in which they cannot have lived. Against a decor of guilty angles and embarrassing close-ups, dreamt characters meet in a film that never was. ‘Micelle, ou est ton lit?’ ‘Mon lit? Paris est mon lit…’Created and performed by Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti, Klaus Jürgens, Jochem Stavenuiter. Directed by Paul van der Laan en Marijn van der Jagt.
Bambie 14 reconstruction of a love affair
There are people who kill one another for love. Why do they do this? Against what backdrop? And using what props? Bambie 14 (2009) is about crimes of passion. Van der Laan and Stavenuiter reconstruct one such crime of passion, inspired by police photographs of murder victims from the 1920s and 1930s, and crime theory from the beginning of the last century. One looks at photographs of when things were still going fine. The other wakes up with an axe in his hand.Created and performed by Paul van der Laan en Jochem Stavenuiter. Directed by Hans Man in ’t Veld
Oleg! Oleg! Oleg!Oleg! Oleg! and Oleg! have a lot in common.
The name, to start with. They are even considering calling the sheep Oleg! too. ‘That creates a homogeneous feeling’ Oleg! had said. ‘A sheep called Oleg!?,’ Oleg! said. ‘Yes, so what? No one will say anything.’ And so they did. Oleg! Oleg! Oleg! Oleg! do quite a bit of rummaging around in the attic.Created and performed by René van ’t Hof/Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata, Paul van der Laan en Jochem Stavenuiter. Directed by Marlies Heuer. Credits
Artistic director: Jochem Stavenuiter and Paul van der Laan.Dramaturgy: Marijn van der Jagt.Stage design: Hester Jolink. Bambie Treize: Diana van den Vossenberg.Costume design: Atty Kingma.Lighting design/technician: Paul de Vrees. Oleg! Oleg! Oleg! Bodo Koch.Still photography: Ben van Duin.Graphic design: Sybren Kuiper.Business manager: Peter Floor.Production manager: Markus Schnizer.
